Latino Family Differences

The message that the white culture should be embarrassed of Mexican-American culture is present in both films. The scene when Alex’s parents first meet Isabel and think is the cleaning lady (because Alex didn’t tell them she is his wife), mirrors the scene when Memo bring his white fiancé’s family to his house. Alex and Memo were embarrassed to introduce their white cultured side of the family to their Mexican-American side. I found it interesting that both movies tried add comic relief to a situation of serious racial tension and

I’m an American grown up with Mexican roots; with all their traditions, religious beliefs, holidays, and foods. I come from a small town of south Texas, called The Rio Grande Valley, where I live with my average size family. I’ve grown up with my family facing hardships, and flaws yet united always. As time has gone by I’ve come to learn that everything around me has shaped me to be the young lady I am today, and I’m grateful for that.

Throughout this first chapter of Latino Americans the key points in my opinion were the following. Starting with the origin story of the Americas, the book mentions there might not be a definitive starting point because there “500 nations in North America before a European ship ever dropped anchor off the Eastern Seaboard” (Suarez 3). The book from this point on chronologically starts narrating, first about 55 years before Protestant refugees from Mayflower ever stepped on American soil, a Spanish sailor Pedro Menendez de Aviles forced French protestants from their Florida coast settlement to then stablish St. Augustine. From this point the book continues to tell the stories of Juan de Oñate, from witnessing the founding of Santa Fe, the oldest capital of North America, to exploring more than half a dozen of American states, he is one of the most fundamental conquistadors who is the least

In the United States of America, we have the opportunity to socialize with many different racial groups in our communities. The groups that are always interacting with one another and have different and similarities are he African American and Latinos. In this country the African American and Latinos are oppressed in society. In this two very distinguished cultures were able to experience different outcomes by establishing in the United States.

Growing up in a Hispanic household has shaped and built my values in life. At Appleton North High School, I am one out of the few Hispanic students. Knowing that my parents have migrated to America to give me a better future has motivated me to make it happen. Although, as a Mexican-American, I have felt out of place as a minority. However, with time I learned to accept my cultural differences. In fact, to this day, I thank my widowed father for the sacrifices and greater opportunities he has given me. My goal is to keep representing the few Hispanic students in college by working hard to achieve my career goals; not all Hispanics are fortunate enough to attend college. I also work to inspire young Hispanics to find their potential and follow

Growing up in a Mexican household has many definitive factors. Growing up an Hispanic child means being awoken by loud Spanish music every Sunday morning which sent a reminder to your brain telling you that it was cleaning day. It means having your parents call you names such as precioso, mi rey, and gordo at any age. Growing up in a Mexican household means never having to buy outside food because “there’s food at home”. Growing up in a Mexican household means many things but all these things make us who we are.

Hispanic's face many struggles in their lives that is why the word family is so strong. The theme of family comes in when the father leaves. They had to learn how to take care of each other and help out around the house. Even though the bond between them isn't very strong, they will always have their family come first. This is shown when the father comes back and Wilfredo tries to get into Yuniors family business. Rafa becomes infuriated of the fact that Yunior was going to tell Wilfredo about their problems. "Hey, Sinbad, Wilfredo said, his head appearing in our window. What's going on? My father wrote us a letter! Rafa rapped me on the side of the head. This is a family affair, Yunior. Don't blab it all over the place."(Diaz 81) Culture identity is not known until you find a place with your family. Yunior wasn't aware of this and since his family was poor he kept on moving around going from one house to another. Yunior also didn't want to be himself; he was always following in the footsteps of Rafa. All these themes sum up the Latin Experience. If you are Hispanic most of these problems you have faced already or will face in the future.

The movie also displayed a "Gringo" with Ms. Alice Harper who was an American woman who offered Enrique a job in Chicago that would help him earn his citizenship and make good money. Each of these ethnic groups have a different relationship towards each other Mestizos and Indians view each other as enemies as we saw when Rosita was on the bus and she had the conflict with the Mexican man behind her over a window. Mestizos view the Chicanos in a negative manner because they feel that they should be in better touch with their heritage but the Chicano 's as we saw in the movies gave Mestizos ways of adjusting to American culture as far as employment and even language. The Gringos view the Indians and Mestizos as good hard workers, they are aware of the fact that they need the work so somet8imes they take advantage of them by underpaying them or making them work in unfair conditions. The Mestizo and Indian immigrants depend on the Gringos for work and education opportunities when they first come to America.

The family structure in the two cultures varies greatly. In U.S. culture boys and girls are encouraged to go and try new things. The kids only work to provide themselves with pleasures while they’re parents provide the necessities. However, , the boys in the film wake up before dawn to go pick in order to earn money to support their families financially. Some of the boys even had to quit the cross country team in order to put food on the table. They do not work to buy themselves a car as Valles says he runs because he can’t afford a car. The boys started from the bottom and fought their way to the top as many Latinos have to do whereas in the U.S. some poeple start at the top to only get higher because of the many opportunities given to them. Another almost comical difference in cultures is the chicken offered to White and his family. There is a different sense of welcoming given from a live object versus say a pie as is seen in U.S. culture. The entire town seems to have a close relationship. This is proven by the water the boys take from the little store and when the store owner gives White a coke after running. ALso, when the town comes togewther to throw Jamie a quincenera and when they all support the boys at the state championship. The Latino culture calls for much more intimacy in

Frequently, we do not put too much attention to our own cultural values and traditions until we are exposed to a different culture, and start comparing. In order to have a more productive and fruitful life I believe we need to become more self-aware and more sensitive to the culturally and ethnically diverse community we live in. Two cultures that have been sharing the same living space for centuries are the Hispanic and American culture. In this paper I would be analyzing each culture giving a brief background and pointing out some aspects in how they differ, like the perception of time, family, orientation, and others. American culture has a couple of aspects in which it differs from the Hispanic culture, which for the

Growing up in a Hispanic household has taught me many things. I have learned to see things as an optimistic person, and that it doesn’t matter where you come from as long as you work hard for what you want anything is possible. My family has always implemented the values of life that lead me to perceive what it was about to throw at me.

Growing up, those two words have always left my stomach in knots and caused my eyebrows to come together in confusion. At the tender age of 8, family parties were meant to be fun and enjoyable, but whenever I heard an uncle or grandfather say those two words I was left in a state of discomfort without really knowing why.

“Wow...there is no way you’re Latino. You’re way too white!” was the ignorant remark made by a one of my peers during my school’s annual Latin-American Fest. Initially, hearing this claim made me look into the mirror. I began to stroke my face and examine my physical features. Was this true? Was I not Latino enough? Did the amount of melanin or lack thereof deem me as Latino?

Just like in the US there are 3 meals a day. But the most important meal of the day is el almuerzo (lunch) unlike the US.To start off the day they have a huge breakfast, which includes 2 eggs and a smaller steak with beans and a cup of coffee. For

Growing up in a Latino household is hard. My parents only spoke Spanish therefore my first language was Spanish. For the first few years of my life this was not really a problem, I enjoyed life as any normal little girl would. I got to talk to all of my cousins and all of the neighbor’s children. It wasn’t until I got to school that it became real that I was going to learn English. Don’t get me wrong I always knew I had to learn English my parents always talked to me about school and helped me as much as they could. It was also around this same time where I started to understand that it was not only hard for me it was hard for them as well. My parents had to live in this country not knowing the main language spoken.